Blues move to second on AFL ladder with 26-point win over Bombers as Swans defeat Cats by five goals

 Blues move to second on AFL ladder with 26-point win over Bombers as Swans defeat Cats by five goals

Carlton has surged to second spot on the ladder and underlined its AFL premiership credentials with a 26-point triumph over traditional rivals Essendon.

The Blues' efficiency in attack — and their opponents' wastefulness — told the story of a 15.6 (96) to 9.16 (70) victory at the MCG on Sunday night.

Tom De Koning shone in the ruck and Elijah Hollands kicked a career-best three goals as Carlton (9-4) banked a third straight win and leapfrogged the Bombers (8-4-1) on the table.

The result may have come at some cost, with Harry McKay to undergo further assessment after hurting his left shoulder in a final-quarter marking contest with brother Ben McKay.

De Koning (23 disposals), George Hewett (23), Sam Walsh (22) and Nic Newman (21) were all busy for Carlton, who spread the workload in a strong team display.

Charlie Curnow, Zac Williams and Alex Cincotta kicked two goals each.

Emotion scenes followed Williams's first goal, which he dedicated to his sister Sam, who died in June last year after a battle with cancer.

Williams kissed his wrist and pointed to the sky, before being embraced by his teammates.

"I don't think it came off my boot very well, almost a floater, so I'm glad it went through and I just paid a little tribute to her," Williams told the Seven Network after the match.

"And I know she'd be very proud, especially with me playing forward now and kicking goals."

The Blues were victorious despite Essendon's territorial dominance, which gave the Bombers a 60-40 advantage in forward entries.

Up by 32 points at half-time, Carlton saw its lead cut to 15 as the Bombers peppered the goals in the third quarter and added 3.6 to 1.1 for the term.

But the Blues reset and shut the gate with four quick goals in the opening 11 minutes of the last quarter.

"For the boys to be able to come out of three-quarter time and do what they did shows the belief that's growing within this team," Carlton coach Michael Voss said.

"For the last three weeks we've played against some quality opposition and we've run out the games really strong.

"To beat us you've got to go four quarters and that's something we've had to develop as a football team."

With the match billed as the biggest Essendon-Carlton clash in more than a decade, a huge build-up ensured a monster crowd of 88,510 spectators was on hand.

It was the second-highest attendance in history for a home-and-away match between the two clubs.

But the contest did not live up to the hype as Carlton gained the early ascendancy and were only briefly challenged when the Bombers pressed during the third quarter.

There was a sense of theatre when Essendon defender Ben McKay went directly to mark Carlton spearhead and brother Harry at the opening bounce in their first head-to-head meeting at AFL level.

Harry McKay kicked an early goal when Ben was penalised for holding in a marking contest but could not add to his tally and was held to just eight disposals.